Binocular rib sight



June 4, 1968 c. LUEBKEMAN 3,386,171

BINOCULAR RIB SIGHT Filed Dec. 28, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Gearye 6122225,, BY

June 4, 1968 G. c. LUEBKEMAN 3,386,171

BINOCULAR RIB SIGHT Filed De. 28, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. deoryeC. lueblmarz nited States Patent 3,386,171 BWOCULAR RIB SIGHT George C.Luebkeman, Cincinnati, Ohio (115 Mt. Neho Road, Cleves, Ohio 45002)Filed Dec. 28, 1965, Ser. No. 516,869 3 Claims. (Cl. 33-47) Thisinvention relates to improvements in binocular gun sights and has forits prinicpal object the provision of a rib sight for firearms whichwill have an elongated and laterally restricted eye-attractive areasuperimposed and so arranged on the rib sight that said area willpresent a distinctive and attractive image to the aiming eye only of ashooter employing binocular vision while concealing the said area fromthe non-aiming eye.

Another object of the invention is to provide a binocular rib sight forfirearms which has a longitudinally extending groove formed in the uppersurface of the rib, the groove having a distinctive area disposed in thetrough thereof that is attractive to the aiming eye of the firearm user,the upstanding sides of the rib formed by the groove effectivelyshielding the distinctive area from the nonaiming eye of the user.

A further object of this invention is to provide a binocular sighthaving the foregoing characteristics which is simple, yet rugged inconstruction, is maintenance free and which may be readily installed onexisting guns having a rib thereon.

Other objects will become apparent from the following specificationstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmental, side elevational view of the barrel of anexemplary single barreled shotgun with one form of my improved binocularrib sight mounted there- FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmental frontelevational view of the fiirearm barrel shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmental section taken on line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmental, side elevational view of the muzzle end of ashotgun barrel showing a slightly modified form of the binocular gunsight depicted in FIG. 1; parts being broken away and shown in section.

FIG. 5 is a fragmental, top plan view of the barrel of a shotgun showinganother modified form of my binocular rib sight.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, fragmental section taken on l ne 66 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged, fragmental section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged, fragmental section taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a greatly enlarged, fragmental plan View illustrating amodified form of the rib sight shown in FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings.

FIG. 10 is a fragmental, side elevational view showing a furthermodified form of the rib sight.

FIG. 11 is a fragmental, enlarged section taken on line 1111 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged, fragmental section like FIG. 11 showing a stillfurther modification of the rib sight.

With particular reference to FIGS. 1-3 of the drawing the numeral 12 isa shotgun barrel having the usual elongated rib 13 mounted thereuponwhich extends from the muzzle end 14 to the rear end portion 15 of thebarrel; said rib being preferably tapered in its heightwise dimensionfrom the muzzle to said rear end portion. 'It is contemplated that therib 13 may extend the full length of the barrel and the barrel receiverbut the rib may extend a foreshortened distance rearwardly from themuzzle end of the barrel without departing from the spirit of myinvention. As indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3 the rib 13 is bisectedlongitudinally by the vertical plane containing the center axis of thebarrel 12; said vertical plane being indicated in said figures by thedot and dash lines 16. The flat upper surface 17 of the rib lies in aplane normal to the said vertical plane.

A laterally restricted, upwardly opening groove 18 is formed centrallyin the flat surface 17 of the rib to extend longitudinally thereof fromthe rear portion 15 of the gun barrel into and through the muzzle end 14of the rib. As shown in FIG. 1 the groove 1% is deepest at the muzzleend of the rib and said groove progressively becomes shallower as itextends rearwardly until the groove blends with the upper surface 17 ofthe rib at the rear end portion 15 of the barrel.

It will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3 that the groove 18 has a troughportion 1% and forms opposed upstanding sides 20 and 21 on the rib andthat the trough portion only of the groove is provided with aneye-attractive a ea 22 which, as shown in FIG. 1, extends from themuzzle end of the rib rearwardly toward the shallower part of thegroove, the area terminating short of the place where the groove blendswith the planar upper surface of the rib. It is contemplated that theeye attracting area be a fluorescent or a distinctively colored coating,or the like, but other means may be used that will give the forwardtrough portion of the groove eye-attracting characteristics.

Several factors must be considered in order that the eye-attracting area22 be observed only by the aiming eye of the gun user, employingbinocular vision, whilst the non-aiming eye will not see the area 22 atsuch time, the factors consisting of the width and depth of the groove,the longitudinal extent of the eye-attractive area 22 in the trough ofthe groove and the individual mannerisms of the gun user in the act ofaiming and firing the gun using binocular vision. Nearly all gun userscock their heads at an angle over the gun stock while in the act ofplacing the aiming eye in proper position, such head position placingthe non-aiming eye on a relatively higher level with respect to the ribsight than the level of the aiming eye. Thus the sight line of thenon-aiming eye has a greater angle of incidence with respect to the ribsight which requires a dimensional correlation between the said firsttwo mentioned factors. The said area 22 and the groove are so arrangedthat when the hunters aiming and non-aiming eyes are in proper positionfor directing the gun at a target the side of the groove toward thenon-aiming eye will conceal the eye-attractive area 22 from saidnon-aiming eye while providing the aiming eye with an attractive andelongated sighting field down the center of the groove.

If desirable the usual ball sight 23 (FIG. 4) may be mounted on themuzzle end of the barrel in front of the forward terminal end of the rib13 provided with the binocular sight that is illustrated in FIGS. 13 ofthe drawings. This ball sight in conjunction with my binocular rib sightmay be considered advantageous to certain gun shooters wishing to use myrib sight.

Reference is now made to the modification of the bin- Ocular rib sightillustrated in FIGS. 5-8 of the drawings wherein the gun barrel 12; isprovided with the elongated rib 13, it being understood that thismodification may or may not have a conventional ball sight 23 mounted infront of it on the muzzle end 14 of the barrel. The modified binocularrib sight has an elongated and laterally restricted groove 24- extendingfrom the muzzle end of the rib to the rear portion thereof and, asindicated in FIGS. 6-8 of the drawings, said groove is formed to becomeprogressively shallower as the rib itself becomes thinner in aheightwise direction and as both extend rearwardly toward the rear endportion of the barrel. The groove is formed with a trough 25 and opposedupstanding sides 26 and 27, the groove having an eye-attractive area 28in the trough 25 thereof.

The groove 24 is bisected laterally by an upstanding fin 25 along anintermediate part of its length whilst it is further trisected laterallyby a pair of spaced fins 30 and 31 along its rear portion. The finsserve as longitudinally extending side walls to better conceal theeye-attractive trough area 23 of the groove from the non-aiming eye ofthe shooter especially in certain of my binocular sights which may havean exceptionally wide groove therein, it being noted that as thebinocular rib sight approaches the rear portion of the gun barrel andthe groove therein becomes shallower the number of fins areprogressively increased in number.

Operationally the relatively wide groove 18 of the rib sight illustratedin FIGS. 13 of the drawings may be made more effective by foreshorteningthe length of the eye attractive area 22 in the trough thereof andabruptly terminating said area at a point 100 intermediate the ends ofthe rib sight. In addition, and with reference to FIG. 9 of thedrawings, said eye-attractive area 22 may be attenuated at its rearportion 1M by gradually reducing its lateral extent in the groove untilit terminates in a narrow restricted end 102 at a point intermediate theends of the rib sight.

A further embodiment of the rib sight is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 of thedrawings wherein the rib 13 on the gun barrel 12 is provided in itsupper surface With a pair of side-by-side grooves 29 and 30, each ofwhich extend continuously from the muzzle end of the rib to the rear endportion thereof. Each groove 29 and 30 has an eye-attractive area 31 and32, respectively, in its trough portion. With reference to FIG. 12 itwill be understood that the continuous grooves containing eye-attractiveareas in the troughs thereof may be increased in number to three grooves33, 34 and 35 when such number is deemed advisable to carry out theobjectives of my invention.

From the foregoing it is seen that a binocular rib sight has beenprovided by this invention which fully accomplishes its intendedobjectives and is well adapted to meet practical conditions ofmanufacture and usage. It is to be understood that certain changes andmodifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A binocular sight for the barrels of firearms comprising an elongatedrib mounted upon the barrel and extending rearwardly from the muzzle endportion of the barrel, said rib being bisected longitudinally by avertical plane containing the center axis of the barrel and having aflat upper surface lying in the plane normal to said vertical plane, alongitudinal, laterally restricted and upwardly opening groove formed inthe flat surface of the rib and extending from the rear end portion ofthe rib through the muzzle end thereof, said groove having a troughportion and opposed sides projecting upwardly from the edges of thetrough portion, a continuous, elongated and laterally restricted aimingeye-attractive area disposed wholly within the trough portion of thegroove, and an upstanding, longitudinally extending fin disposed in andlaterally dividing the groove whereby the upstanding sides of the grooveand the fin shield the aiming eyeattractive area from the non-aiming eyeof the user.

2. A binocular sight for the barrels of firearms as set forth in claim 1characterized by the fact that the groove becomes progressivelyshallower as its configuration approaches the rear end portion of therib.

3. A binocular sight for the barrels of firearms as set forth in claim 1characterized by the fact that the fins increase in number as the grooveapproaches the rear end portion of the barrel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,718,458 6/1929 Hager et a1.3352 2,207,857 7/1940 Gregory 3347 2,927,375 3/1960 Luebkernan 33473,028,674 4/1962 Luebkeman 3347 FOREIGN PATENTS 665,662 6/1939 Germany.

11,838 1915 Great Britain. 1

HARRY N. HAROIAN, Primary Examiner.

1. A BINOCULAR SIGHT FOR THE BARRELS OF FIREARMS COMPRISING AN ELONGATEDRIB MOUNTED UPON THE BARREL AND EXTENDING REARWARDLY FROM THE MUZZLE ENDPORTION OF THE BARREL, SAID RIB BEING BISECTED LONGITUDINALLY BY AVERTICAL PLANE CONTAINING THE CENTER AXIS OF THE BARREL AND HAVING AFLAT UPPER SURFACE LYING IN THE PLANE NORMAL TO SAID VERTICAL PLANE, ALONGITUDINAL, LATERALLY RESTRICTED AND UPWARDLY OPENING GROOVE FORMED INTHE FLAT SURFACE OF THE RIB AND EXTENDING FROM THE REAR END PORTION OFTHE RIB THROUGH THE MUZZLE END THEREOF, SAID GROOVE HAVING A TROUGHPORTION AND OPPOSED SIDES PROJECTING UPWARDLY FROM THE EDGES OF THETROUGH PORTION, A CONTINUOUS, ELONGATED AND LATERALLY RESTRICTED AIMINGEYE-ATTRACTIVE AREA DISPOSED WHOLLY WITHIN THE TROUGH PORTION OF THEGROOVE, AND AN UPSTANDING, LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING FIN DISPOSED IN ANDLATERALLY DIVIDING THE GROOVE WHEREBY THE UPSTANDING SIDES OF THE GROOVEAND THE FIN SHIELD THE AIMING EYEATTRACTIVE AREA FROM THE NON-AIMING EYEOF THE USER.